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Matty McNair facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Matty L McNair (born in Pennsylvania, United States) is an American explorer. She now lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada on Baffin Island. Among her many accomplishments are:

  • 1997 leading the first ever all-female expedition to the Geographic North Pole.
  • 2000 she led an expedition across Ellesmere Island through the Sverdrup Pass.
  • 2003/04 she led two ski-all-the-way expeditions to the South Pole.
  • 2003 crossed the Greenland Ice Cap with her children Sarah and Eric by ski-kites with dog sled support.
  • 2004/2005 completed an unsupported ski expedition to the South Pole, again accompanied by her children Sarah and Eric, who became the youngest persons to ski to the South Pole.
  • 2007 drove a dogsled with Richard Hammond in a race to the 1996 location of the North Magnetic Pole as part of Top Gear: Polar Special. This journey was cut short before her party reached the pole because the other competitors (in trucks) reached the destination first.
  • She is the first American to ski to both the North and South poles.

Books

On Thin Ice: A Woman's Journey to the North Pole (1999), ISBN: 978-0-9685343-0-4

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